Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Psychotherapist Ousted for Christian Beliefs

A sting operation by homosexual journalist Patrick Strudwick resulted in the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) ruling that Lesley Pilkington was guilty of professional misconduct for helping Strudwick with his (phony) request for Jesus to relieve him of homosexual temptation.

Former archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, Bishop of Chester the Rt Rev Peter Forster, and Bishop of Lewes the Rt Rev Wallace Benn were among signatories to a letter giving support to 60-year-old psychotherapist Lesley Pilkington.

In their letter, the clerics said Ms Pilkington distinguishes "very carefully" between her "non-directive" counselling and the biblical and pastoral counselling she also offers as a Christian.

"We believe that people who seek, freely, to resolve unwanted same-sex attractions hold the moral right to receive professional assistance," they said.

"Whether motivated by Christian conscience or other values, clients, not practitioners, have the prerogative to choose the yardstick by which to define themselves.

The counsellor is due to mount an appeal this week following a British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) ruling that she was guilty of professional misconduct over a therapy session with gay journalist Patrick Strudwick.

Working undercover, Strudwick approached Ms Pilkington and asked her to "make me straight" after meeting her at a conference for therapists and psychiatrists who wanted to learn how to convert their patients to heterosexuality. Writing in The Guardian last year, he said:

"I am an out, happily gay man. I was undercover, investigating therapists who practise this so-called conversion therapy - also known as reparative therapy - who try to 'pray away the gay',"

"I asked her to make me straight.

"Her attempts to do so flout the advice of every major mental-health body in Britain."